Muscat: More than 100 labour inspectors have gone on strike in Oman to demand for more powers and an increase in "risk" allowance.
A labour inspector who has pitched tents outside the Ministry of Manpower in Muscat said that inspectors should be given authority to act on the spot.
"The powers are centralised so we are helpless in taking on-the-spot decisions," Nasser Al Kindi, who has been a labour inspector for the last four years, told Gulf News.
He said that under the International Labour Organisation's regulations, the decision taking process should be decentralised. "Here in Oman it is different and we are most of the times powerless," he pointed out.
Al Kindi said the labour inspectors will stage sit-ins until their demands are met.
Inspectors have also called for better assignments near their hometown. Al Kindi said there are at least 300 labour inspectors wanting a post in or around their hometown.
"I don't think our demands are personal at all, they are general demands and we are urging Manpower Minister to listen to our demands and act on it," he said.
He pointed out that none of the high officials from the ministry have bothered to meet them although they have spent almost 24 hours at the ministry in protest.
He insisted that had the inspectors been given more powers, they could have dealt with strikes on the spot.
The latest strike to hit Oman is a protest from school bus drivers, which entered a second day on Sunday. In Sohar, colleges were shut with students calling for strike, demanding removal of some faculties as well as lowering of passing grades.
The Globe Roundabout, recently the key location of a massive protest in the country, remains closed from 6pm to 6am.
